Traditional approaches to manufacturing large components (e.g., truck frames, engine blocks, final drive gears, axles, etc.) have included the use of fully contained cells. In particular, the large component (and/or pieces used to form the large component) is brought into an established fabrication cell (e.g., a welding cell, a grinding cell, a drilling cell, a lathing or milling cell, a polishing cell, etc.) and mounted into specialized fixtures. Dedicated processing equipment (e.g., welders, grinders, drills, mills, lathes, polishers, measurement devices, etc.) that are mounted to and powered by the cell are then used to create particular features of the component. After the particular features are created, the component is moved to another fabrication cell where additional features are created, and a new component is loaded into the original cell. Although the traditional approach may be acceptable in some instances, it can also have a high capital cost and consume a large amount of space within a factory setting.
An alternative manufacturing approach is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0190926 of Miegel et al. that published on Jul. 9, 2015 (“the '926 publication”). In particular, the '926 publication discloses a system having a computer and multiple interacting robots. The robots form part of a production cell, in which both handling and processing types of robots work together as a production unit based on instructions received from the computer.
Although the cooperative use of multiple robots under the regulation of the computer may be more versatile and/or efficient than a traditional manufacturing cell, the system of the '926 publication may still be less than optimal. In particular, the robots may still be tied to a single cell, dedicated to a particular process, and configured for use with a particular component. This may limit the use of the system and, thereby, also a value or efficiency of the system.
The disclosed manufacturing system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.